How to get an XML DOM while offline?

[william tanksley]

I want to parse my iTunes Library xml. All was well, until I unplugged
and left for the train (where I get most of my personal projects
done). All of a sudden, I discovered that apparently the presence of a
DOCTYPE in the iTunes XML makes xml.dom.minidom insist on accessing
the Internet... So suddenly I was unable to do any work.

I don't want to modify the iTunes XML; iTunes rewrites it too often.
How can I prevent xml.dom.minidom from dying when it can't access the
Internet?

Is there a simpler way to read the iTunes XML? (It's merely a plist,
so the format is much simpler than general XML.)

-Wm